Justification:
Assessed as Vulnerable in 1998, but the species' wide distribution from Imbabura to Azuay suggests a lower category.

A shrub or tree endemic to Ecuador, where it is known from 12 subpopulations, ten in the southern Andes and two in the northern Andes. The type locale, in the surroundings of Cuicocha lake, is currently protected in the Reserva Ecológica Cotacachi-Cayapas. Additional subpopulations may occur in other protected areas of the central Andes. Habitat destruction is the only known threat to the species